Part 1 of Essay
'The Devils of Loudun', by Aldous Huxley ‘The Devils of Loudun’ is a historical account of religious fanaticism and sexual hysteria in seventeenth century France, and an investigation into the circumstances that led to the torture and execution of a local parson who, during a farcical ecclesiastical trial, was ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... As for the story, it is not at all surprising that Huxley chose to write about this particular episode in French history, as many of the events described exemplify themes that dominated his polemical novels and celebrated essays: present is the issue of man’s ‘ongoing obsession’ with self-transcendence which was so pertinent in the excellent, infamous ‘Doors of perception’; the dilemma that recurs throughout his fiction, that of the cloistered and suppressed mind dealing wit ....